News Archive - 2013

Library that can determine resistance

Researchers have developed a method to create a comprehensive library of mutations across all genes in the mouse genome. This library can be used to examine the role of every gene in different cell types.

Genetics that protects your heart

A variant that decreases levels of bad fats is 40 times more common in an isolated Cretan population

Researchers have found a key piece of the puzzle as to why an isolated population in Greece may live healthy lives. They have found that a genetic variant known to protect the heart is 40 times more common in this small Greek population than in other European populations.

New test for chronic blood cancers

Identification of a gene that underlies 40 per cent of patients with specific blood cancer leads to better diagnosis tool

Researchers have discovered that the gene CALR is mutated in 40 per cent of patients with a certain group of chronic blood cancers. On the back of this finding, they are now developing a test that will soon be able to catch the vast majority of these blood cancers.

Gene promotes one in a hundred of tumours

Researchers have identified a gene that drives the development of tumours in over one per cent of all cancer patients. This is the first time that the gene CUX1 has been broadly linked to cancer development.

Anti-fungal drug increases flu susceptibility

Common anti-fungal drug deactivates protein that protects against flu in mice

Researchers have found that a commonly used anti-fungal treatment increases susceptibility to severe influenza infection in mice. This treatment deactivates an important protein that protects against viral infections such as influenza.

Methylation linked to metabolic disease

In the first in-depth analysis of DNA methylation in fat, a process that affects the regulation of genes, researchers have linked regions of methylation to metabolic traits such as high body mass index (BMI) and obesity.

New building set to drive translational medicine

UK Minister for Universities and Science opens the Technical Hub for bioinformatics

On Monday, 28 October, UK Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts joined key advocates of bioinformatics such as researchers, journalists, editors, and politicians to celebrate the opening of a new Technical Hub for bioinformatics on the Wellcome Trust Genome Campus.